Hola, Sneakers. Welcome to Episode 252 of the podcast that has never had a revival or – for that matter – an arrival.
This week: greater < lesser; cartoon analogy; Pebbles loves Bam Bam; more squashing and stretching; tracing humans; updating Gulliver’s Travels; more Dick; sci-fi lit crit; characters with character; gloom TV; Paddington meets Rupert; gentleman Hugh; shopping habits; canned foods; spicy; the appetizer revolution; homemake; the book of all knowledge; salty; beatin’ the heat; the dangerous sea; the Zoologists; clam-based; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; use your noodles; more gizzards, lizards, and wizards; shame, shame on you; Ed’s theme; and, finally, moist and dank.
Question of the Week: How do you plan your meals?
Sub-question: Are you growing your food at home? If so, what are you growing?
Thanks for listening.
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Hello Ian and David!
Loved the 450th episode! You two are amazing… no bathroom breaks??? What you won’t do for us fans, the “Sneakers”! I got a kick listening to everyone’s questions and your thoughtful answers. One of the questions was what podcasts you currently would recommend. I added both of your suggestions to my podcast list, and have been really enjoying each! Thanks!
Now, concerning meals, I only plan ahead the night before, getting out whatever needs to be thawed. I do all the cooking in our house and it’s pretty arbitrary. I shop once per week, and keep a decent supply of the ingredients I like to cook with on hand.
The only day that we have the same meal each week is Friday which is our pizza and movie night, an evening originally started back when our kids were still in the home, so I wouldn’t have to cook. It’s frozen pizza, veg tray, and ice cream with whatever movie we choose. Our tradition for 20 years.
And we do grow food here! In the veg garden this year we have now (or have had in the spring) lettuce and mixed greens, green and wax beans, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, various peppers, butternut squash, Swiss chard, spinach, beets, carrots, and a few types of peas, and radishes. There are Brussels sprout PLANTS in this garden, but I see no sign of actually achieving the little cabbage-like thingies! This is the 3rd year I have attempted growing these with no success! Does anyone have any suggestions???
We also have a big stand of blueberries and we are picking them now. I mean RIGHT NOW… so I’ll take my basket, and take my leave!
Thanks again, gentlemen! Have a good week!
Congratulations on the release of Sparks! Double Dog Dare! A kid we know received their copy through Kidsbooks in Kits last week and is already well into the re-reads. My sister is still waiting on the megacorporation to deliver hers. But by the time this podcast goes to air, I bet she’ll have posted a pawsitive 5-star verified purchase review.
To answer your follow-up question about where I go to eat fish and chips, for oceanfront picnicking it’s Pajo’s in Garry Point Park in Steveston. For take-out to eat in a park or to bring home: the Fish Counter on Main and E. 22nd. Prior to the pandemic, for dining-in when not everyone wants to order fish and chips: White Spot.
In our garden we’re growing zucchini and tomatoes. We have a lot of herbs: the Scarborough Fair four as well as the lesser known quartet of “cilantro, basil, oregano and chives.” We also planted beans and sunflowers but sadly, the under cover of darkness, the young sprouts got eaten down to their stalks. At first we suspected slugs until we spotted a rat lurking in the lavender. While were standing right there, the bold rodent would dart out and lunch on our lettuce and strip the cilantro (but not the basil). Since it obviously had a discerning palate, we stated calling it Remy (from Ratatouille). We tried to think of it as a pet we were feeding as we didn’t have the heart to bring death to moochie during these troubled times. But perhaps a higher power overheard my inner plea of “Will no one rid us of this meddlesome pest?” For lo, a crow did descend upon the varmint leaving us to dispose of its ratty remains. We’ve planted more beans and hopefully we’ll get a crop before the end of summer.
I just got done reading Sparks: Double Dog Dare, and I really enjoyed it! The artwork and coloring were both top-notch! Oh, and the writing was pretty good too. I especially liked the use of the Konami Code to fire an electromagnetic pulse. It’s also inspired me to read up on polydactyl cats, which I hadn’t really known were a thing before now. I’m looking forward to whatever crazy time travel hijinks you guys have in store for the third book!
Hey Gents,
Another great episode! I’m going to bypass your official questions and instead bust some Australian stereotypes in the hope of enticing you both here one day – should this pandemic ever end.
Contrary to various pop culture franchises featuring the word ‘Crocodile’ in the title, most Australians go through life without encountering any of the ‘deadly’ creatures that can be found here – if you look very hard and venture deep into their (usually remote bush land) territory.
Most of us live in cities and suburbs well away from crocs, snakes, sharks and deadly spiders.
The big spiders we do see a lot of in the suburbs are the gentle, scaredy cats known as ‘huntsmen.’ They are huge and hairy but will do anything to avoid getting near humans – and they only eat insects. They freak a lot of people out but I love them. If I find one in the house, I always take care to humanely catch it in a plastic container and relocate it to the yard.
So please visit – and help us bust some Canadian stereotypes. (Is it true that you drink maple syrup by the jug, watch hockey 24/7 and have grizzly bears in your yards?)
Mick
Meals are kind of tricky since the kids are here and there most nights and they can be picky, so we plan something we all can eat now or later. There’s a rotation of meals that Susan will plan for on Monday so she has what she needs for the week. Some of the standards are chicken and mushroom rice made in an InstaPot pressure cooker, Korean Beef and rice (again but in the rice cooker), Bratwurst also cooked in the InstaPot then browned in the convection oven and a breakfast casserole made with eggs, sausage, cheddar cheese with a biscuit crust. When I’m just fending for myself, I like to bake skinless salmon with a Tabasco and Tony Chachere Creole seasoning marinade I make. I like it spicy! I also use the same with chicken fajita meat that I eat on a flour tortilla with cheddar cheese crisped on a griddle. The best thing is that I’m still working from home, so I just toddle downstairs around 6:30 and I’m ready to eat or prepare my own meal!
We tried growing some vegetables years ago but it’s so oppressively hot in Texas, everything just fucking dies unless you have a hothouse or structure for growing it. The soil here is also a dense clay and doesn’t contain the nutrients food needs to grow, it’s also the reason we don’t have basements here because it’s hard and shifts too much. Susan is from the East Texas town of Jacksonville, about two hours away. The ground there is like rich potting soil and full of everything you need to grow veggies, plants or flowers. The neighboring town of Tyler is famously known for an annual rose festival which grow like crazy there, tomatoes too. There are farmer’s market roadside stands everywhere in East Texas with everything grown locally, which we fill a few bags with on the way home.
You guys were discussing pizza so much that I had to tell my pizza story. The family two doors down from us in my old neighborhood owned a pizza restaurant called Pizza Getti, which has now been around for 52 years. Our families are close to one another to this day, so I naturally grew up with Pizza Getti. Our families went to church together, we celebrated Christmas together and the two sons were the best friends to my brother and myself. So I might be a bit biased, but to this day it’s the best pizza on the planet. Presently, the younger son has taken ownership of Pizza Getti and he makes it exactly the way his Dad made the pizza I remember as a kid. Maybe it’s the crispy thin crust they use or the blend of black and green olives or something about the sauce, but it’s unreal how well they’ve kept the same recipe all these years. It’s also where we all ate right after we saw Star Wars for the first time in 1977, which is an indelible memory for the ages.
For some reason I salt my water and add a little olive oil, not really for flavor but because someone once told me it keeps the pasta from sticking together. Is that true? As for corn on the cob, I’ll go one better than Dave…I like it all natural with nothing but my hungry teeth on it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Nazis to throw off a cliff.